Mr Gates, the world's second richest man after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, plans to make driverless cars the norm in the new city.

"Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centres, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs," a statement from Belmont Partners said.

Ronald Schott, executive emeritus at the Arizona Technology Council, said the location will be perfect for a new city as the proposed I-11 freeway will run right through its centre and connect it to Las Vegas.

He told Fox News: "Bill Gates is known for innovation and those kind of things, and I think he picked the right place. He's coming to Arizona.